While light on content, the core play in Skullgirls works beautifully on numerous levels. Astounding animation dresses up its solid basics and the roster provides plenty of possibilities for strategies and play styles.

Skullgirls is an engaging, memorable fighting game that presents more of a skeleton than a full experience-but that skeleton is both rock-solid and highly flexible. The bulk of a fighting game is really its gameplay and characters, and Skullgirls has both elements focused and condensed like coal into a diamond, offering pick-up-and-play casual action with pretty visuals but a lot of combo potential and depth that sidesteps the cheaper, unfair aspects of other fighters. It's the most noteworthy original fighter to come along this entire generation after Blazblue. Its practical shortcomings hold it back a bit (time will tell if DLC fleshes these out), but it's ambitiously refined for such a smaller-scale game and at least a must-try for fighting game fans.

Skullgirls has quite a few signs of rushed development, but at its core, it is one of the most well-thought-out and impressive fighting games on the market right now. Future games of the genre are advised to take notes.

The art style might be a hard sell for some people, and if that's the case they'll be missing out on one of the best new fighting game franchises in recent memory. Here's to hoping that Reverge Labs and Autumn Games can release a "Super Skullgirls" in the near future.

It is hard to believe that this game is produced by a small developer, only costs $15, and is downloadable. Not only does it contain almost all the features of a full retail fighting game, but it does almost all of them better. Most critically, the online is perfect and the tutorial actually teaches you how to play fighting games.

Whether you find its t&a-heavy stylings cheap or charming, the unique combat and constantly entertaining animations are almost enough to elevate it into the realms of the genre's giants. At present though, without an on-screen moves list it's too fiddly to put the hours of training into – which is frustrating, because you will want to put those hours in.

For its small price and despite a weak roster (even though it's quite varied), Skullgirls offers quite a rich meal to versus fighting lovers. Innovative in its form, artistic direction and even its gameplay, it's an excellent combat game for this price range.

Skullgirls doesn't rework the fighting game template; there's no massive overhaul of 2D scrappers, no single big idea that makes it stand apart from others in the genre. It takes what works and adds a few flourishes of its own, and that's a solid enough foundation for a series that we'll certainly see again.

An inspired and entertaining fighter with lots of appreciated imagination. The design, style and animations are its strong point, and the intricacy of the gameplay mechanic is solid without being too intimidating. There's not quite enough content in this package, it can get pretty damn frustrating, and the control isn't always perfect, but there's a lot to like.

Skullgirls has almost everything going for it. Fantastic art, fantastic net code, and a near-perfect fighting game engine. As such, it's a shame such a polished game was shipped missing an in-game moves list and no multiplayer lobbies.

Unfortunately, there are a few flaws that will make some players hesitant to pick this up, but, for $14.99, Skullgirls is as complete as any retail fighting game package. So if you have some friends to play with locally or a decent internet connection, Skullgirls is definitely worth a look.

The single player mode is quite challenging at any difficulty level as the momentum of any battle frequently shifts. There are some balancing issues (particularly on the easier difficulties), which may make going it alone less appealing. Versus and online, however, is where Skullgirls really shines and will keep you equally entertained and frustrated. [June 2012, p80]

Skullgirls is proof of what an independent developer with an ear to the people can produce. It was simply engineered in a superior manner, by a team with more freedom than those from larger companies enjoy.

When it comes to graphics, Skullgirls is more than a match for its competitors. Still it lacks that finishing touch. We couldn't find a move list and even though twenty years ago we enjoyed discovering each character's move set, now we just want to jump right into the action. [May 2012, p.90]

Personally i found Skullgirls disappointing. I had high hopes for this game after reading/watching reviews and playing the demo myself but nowPersonally i found Skullgirls disappointing. I had high hopes for this game after reading/watching reviews and playing the demo myself but now i regret spending my money on this game. I'm no expert when it comes to fighting games but personally i found the game a little difficult (especially the last boss) when i'm not spamming the same moves which obviously makes the game tedious. Another major problem for me was the fact that there are only 8 characters available!, I understand that the developers wanted to make 8 characters so that they could focus more time on developing the roster but only 8 characters is a joke and again makes the game boring really fast. However i have to admit the characters do look pretty awesome Also combos are nowhere to be seen in the menus and instead they are on the website of the game, i don't have fricking time to check them out. Skulgirls isn't a bad game but it seems that the game is directed at hardcore fighting gamers and isn't accessible for anyone else…Full Review »

I've been playing fighting games since the first Street Fighter game in the arcades during the 80's. That being said, this game, at times canI've been playing fighting games since the first Street Fighter game in the arcades during the 80's. That being said, this game, at times can be enjoyable. However, for me, a huge part of a game's goodness is its aesthetics. I am in my 30's and have a family; this game has a too much T&A for my liking and seems like a cheap tactic to get hormonal challenged little boys interested in the game. It doesn't help that every character in the game is a female, so every character is over sexualized. This is disappointing for those of us who play fighting games for the competition not to get some cheap tawdry thrills off of some weirdly drawn cartoon character.

That brings me to the art design. It is clear and crisp, as are the animations, which is good. The bad is that the art design looks like it is something out of some cheap Nickelodeon or Cartoon Network anime show. Certainly not the most appealing art design for a game. I know they are trying to standout from other 2d fighters, like KoFXIII and BlazBlue, but, as a result, they end up with a bizarre art style that certainly will not appeal to all.

People try to defend this game's very small roster with the idea that more characters will come if it is successful. Notice the conditional clause. No one should EVER make a purchase based on a conditional promise, you should buy the game based on what you get out-of-the-box. That being said, in this day and age, 8 characters is just way too few. With other high quality titles available on the PSN & Live, like Street Fighter III: Third Strike OE, Skullgirls doesn't seem like a good value. Anyway, I admit this game isn't for me, and I have given some of the reasons. Its up to you though to decide by trying out the demo. Enjoy.…Full Review »

I have never really been able to get into a fighting game before. From the Hadokens of street fighter to Blaz Blue's ridiculousness I neverI have never really been able to get into a fighting game before. From the Hadokens of street fighter to Blaz Blue's ridiculousness I never felt truly immersed. Then I played Skullgirls. This game is so beautiful and so much fun that I can not stop thinking about it. The game play has so much depth to it that I am thinking about new strategies to use on my opponents as I write this. The art is beautiful and the animation is also spectacular. The lack of a move list is NOT that big of a deal because you can find it online AND each move has simple inputs to where you can figure out each move easily if you are too lazy to go online. Each character is balanced and not one is too powerful or too weak. This game is amazing and with a promise of about 40 characters and a bunch of DLC it is certainly worth the 15$ entry price. Buy this game, because this is the new standard of fighting games and will be a major staple for years to come.…Full Review »